St. Maries ID/Tail of the Coeur d'Alenes 7/19/10 - 7/25/10

I grew up, during my childhood, in St. Maries, Idaho, and moved from there when I was about 12 years old. We go back there once in a while and visit some friends I have known my whole life. Dutch was a childhood friend of my Dad's and he and his wife Gail let us park in their yard. They stay in St. Maries during the summer and move to Ogden, Utah, during the winter. They also have a place next to where my Mom lived in Wikieup, Arizona.
I remember this little log house from my childhood, only with lots of trees around it. Dutch later built a really nice home that you see in the background.

Another reason we went to St. Maries this year is that because we have had a dream for about three years, to ride our bikes on the 72-mile Trails of the Coeur d'Alene. It is a bike trail that is where the old railroad tracks were and it has been paved from Plummer to Mulen. We rode a total of about 75 miles in three days, but didn't ride the whole trail. The first day we started in the middle and road about 25 miles to Wallace and stayed overnight. The next morning we road the same part of the trail back to Cataldo where we had left our pickup. Two days later, we parked in Heyburn State Park at the trailhead and road 12 miles, through Harrison, and then turned around and came back.

This is the first day and the first trestle/bridge that we went over. The trail was so nice and smooth and easy riding.

For about half of that day's ride, we were in the woods and along a river. It was so pretty.

There were really nice "rest areas," some with bathrooms and some without, along the way. We would stop about every five miles to rest and have a snack. (Can you tell that we are not serious bike riders?)

At one stop we had a friendly visitor. We were afraid that she would follow us, but thank goodness she didn't.

The last part of the first day, as we got closer to Kellogg and Wallace, we rode a lot through the mining area--not quite as much timber. It got a little warmer and the last 10 miles was a gradual uphill ride. There were quite a few riders on the trail, but most of them were coming down the trail. One lady went by and said, "It's a lot easier coming down!" The ones going up usually passed us and, actually, the only person we passed on the the trail going up was this man walking his dog!

We got to Wallace at about 12:30--we had started at about 8:30 that morning. We had made reservations at an old hotel called the Ryan Hotel. It was built when the town was first built and was still pretty much the same.

Our room was nice and had lots of antique-looking furniture in it. You can see the "modern" air conditioner sitting atop the "modern" heating system. The end of the trail was about 7 miles further, so we thought we would rest up the afternoon and then in the evening we would ride up and back the rest of the trail. But, neither one of us wanted to climb back on our bikes that day. We were pretty hot and tired and our rumps were plenty sore!

So, that afternoon we walked around the town and ended up going on a tour of an old mine. It was really interesting. An old miner was the guide and he showed us how they did their mining back then.

The next morning we left pretty early and by the time we got to Kellogg, we had traded bike seats several times trying to relieve pressure points on our rumps that were pretty sore. We had remembered passing a bike shop along the trail as we went through Kellogg so we stopped there to see if we could get new seats. Terry's was in pretty bad shape--some of the foam padding had even come apart. Well, they guy there almost talked us into buying two new bikes--they were sure nice. But, instead we left with two new seats. Boy, did they make a difference! We finished that day sitting pretty comfortable.

The next day we took a break from bike riding and went fishing with Dutch and Gail. We didn't catch any fish, but had a nice time anyway.

During the day we actually were in four bodies of water without even loading the boat. We were in the Benewah Lake, Lake Coeur d'Alene, Chatcolet Lake, and the St. Joe River! Here is the long train trestle we planned to cross over on our bikes the next day. It separates Chatcolet Lake and Lake Coeur d'Alene.

We thoroughly enjoyed our day in the water with Dutch and Gail.

We saw a couple of bald eagles. One had a fish in its claws and landed on a stump to eat it.

So, the next day we got back on our bikes--feeling pretty good--and left from a trailhead in Heyburn State park. Our biggest adventure of that trip was riding over the trestle that crossed the lake. We had been wanting to do that for several years, as we watched other bikers crossing it.

We weren't disappointed. It was great to be on top and the scenery looking down over the lakes and the St. Joe River was really something!

The trail on both sides of the trestle--going up and down--had little dips and then level out, all the way til you got to the bottom. It almost felt like a carnival ride on it.

The scenery was once again beautiful along the trail. We followed the water all the way and there were lots of flowers along the way.

When we got to Harrison, we watched this seaplane land in the lake, idle up to the dock and pull into a space. The pilot got out and tied his plane up to the dock, right next to the boats.

The lilly pads were all in bloom. They weren't opened up when we went up the trail, but they had all opened when we came back down it.

I have always thought it would be fun to live in a "float home." There are quite a few of them on Lake Coeur d'Alene. This was a really cute one.

This third day only took us three hours to ride our 25 miles (with stops along the way and a leisurely pace), compared to four hours the first day, and we were not nearly as tired and sore as the first day. So, someday we hope to take on the rest of the trail. Many thanks to those who keep it in such beautiful condition and who make it available for us to ride!

McCormick Park, Hells Canyon 7/8/10 - 7/19/10

One of our favorite places to be is on the Snake River at McCormick Park in Hell's Canyon. My brother, Bill, and his friends started coming over 20 years ago and we joined them after the first couple of years they came. We usually try to go starting the first weekend after the 4th of July, and staying the next week and weekend. There have been a couple of times when all of us seven Fisher siblings have been there together and it has also turned into a Howard reunion at times, when all of our kids and grandkids have all come.

Terry and I haven't missed a year in coming since we started. At times, we have been the only one with an RV and everyone else tents. But now, there are almost more RV's than there are tents. Starting from the left is Jill and Dan with kids and cousins, Terry and I, brother Mike and Janet, brother Frank and Andy, and niece Natalee and Mike.

But, the tent site also fills up. Bill got there early and had his favorite spot, with room for several other tents, besides. Those in our family who tented were sister Lorrie and her kids and grandkids, brother Ron and Kathy, their daughter Danielle and Than and kids, and sons Cameron and Brenton, with girlfriend Cory. Then later, there were friends from Oregon, Elaine and Larry and their grown kids, Wendy and Andy.

The tents "overflowed" out onto the lawn each night, even though there had been bear sightings in the park.

This is the way we spend most of our time at McCormick--just sitting around sleeping and eating and watching the kids play! Jill had her two kids, Boe and Kamber, along with Ryan's three kids, Wesley, Ryley, and Chaz. They were lots of fun and kept Jill pretty busy.

Usually we were sitting around in groups, following the shade. Our son, Shay, came for a few days while his family were in Utah. It was nice having him because he and his cousin, Cameron, cleaned all of the crappie that everyone caught each evening he was there.

We did use a little energy playing games once in a while. We had a "golf-shoes" tournament. I would tell you who won, but I am not sure, and I know that one of my brothers would disagree. But, actually, I think that my sister, Lorrie, and I came out on top!

One day, a couple of sheriff's officers on jet skis stopped down on the river and wanted to know whose kids those were who were down there playing in the water. With some apprehension, Jill's husband, Dan, confessed that they were part of our group. He later came back with t-shirts for each of the kids that said "I got caught wearing my life jacket" on the front. He thanked them for wearing their life jackets and asked them to always wear them when they were down by the water. We had no trouble after that getting the kids to keep their lifejackets on!

The kids had lots of fun playing with cousins, Wesley, Boe, Trestin, Aleksia, and Ryley. Danielle brought fun crafts and games for them, like she does each year. All of us appreciated all of her work in keeping the kids busy and happy.

A get-together at Natalee's trailer with my brothers, Frank, Mike, and Bill, and their family members.

And then a group of my sister Lorrie's family and friends at the tent area.

After the first weekend, a lot of our family had left, but Terry's brother Ron and wife Alice showed up for a few days. They had always heard about this gathering we have each year and came to see what it was all about. It was good having them, although most of the crowd had gone by the time they got there.

We also had our friends, Russ and Louise, show up. We enjoyed roasting marshmallows around Bill's campfire with them one night.

There really had been bear sitings in the park. In fact, they had caught a mama bear a couple of weeks before and let her loose on the other side of the mountain. Well, she came back and this time they caught her and both cubs at the time time. They said they would take them a little further away this time.

We stayed a few days after everyone else had pretty much left. On the last morning we took a hike to the top of the dam with Bill. It is quite a sight from there. Bill even caught a couple of crappie at the top of the spillway.

On the way down that same morning, this deer paused to see what we were up to. We would see deer almost every morning when we would get our 8-mile bike ride in.

Once again, it was great being will all of our family and friends at McCormick and hope this tradition goes on forever!

Emmett, then Cascade, ID 7/1/10 - 7/8/10

After the spending a week on the Oregon Coast with all of the kids, we headed home again for a week and a half.


When we go to Emmett, we park behind the house where there is an RV plug-in and we have access to the sewer and water. So, we try not to disrupt Lorrie too much in the house. She is good sport to put up with us and our company for part of the summer. She takes such good care of our house and yard. We couldn't live the lifestyle we do without her help!


We were pulling Jill and Dan's trailer to and from the coast so they stayed in Emmett a couple of days. It has been a year since Baby Nettie Sue was born and the funeral home finally got her headstone in at the cemetery. So, Jill and her family got to see it before they left Emmett.

We had been given the calling in the Church as the official "Butte Ward Girls Camp Chaperones," so we went with the girls to Deadwood Resevoir. Terry remembered going there before, but I hadn't ever been there. It was so beautiful there and we had such a good time. We were there for three nights. The girls and leaders stayed in tents but we took our camper on the pickup and stayed there. The girls didn't think it was too fair for us to have a "house" to stay in!

We got home from girls camp and then headed for Cascade the next week for the 4th of July celebrations. This is the third year we have been there on the 4th and have been out in the lake to watch the fireworks. It is an amazing site from the water. We stayed at Blue Heron campground where Ron and Sharon are the camphosts. They are so good to us to make sure we get a good spot to camp in.

Ron always has the good fishing holes figured out when we get there. He and his dog, Badger, are pulling them in with every cast.

We didn't do quite as well as Ron did, but we got all of the fish to clean and keep. We ended up with 18 bags of really nice perch for our freezer.

We left Cascade and went to McCormick Park on the Snake River in Hell's Canyon on a Saturday, picked up my brother, Bill, and went to Emmett for another wedding.

My niece, Natalee, got married to Mike at my brother's home. It was kind of a last-minute plan, but it was a nice wedding, pretty informal.


My brother, Frank (he cleans up pretty good!) and his wife Andy (she is certainly the better looking of the pair!) Just kidding! They are so much fun to be around. We had a good time at the wedding.